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Perhaps I need to stress that the third eyelid is a perfectly normal part of every dog's eyes. Most dogs never show it, but if it does emerge it can be a useful pointer to an infection such as conjunctivitis, which can normally be cleared up quickly with drops. Anyway, I may be completely wrong, judging from a not-very-clear photo!

I always assumed, in Sophie's case, it is just a lazy eye, like the type humans can have. She seems healthy and the vet has never said anything. I wonder now if I should be concerned?

It's more a cause for concern if it shows up when it wasn't present before because that indicates something has changed. I wouldn't make an appointment just for that (if its the same as it's always been), but you can always ask next time you're in.

As Kate is reminding everyone the 3rd eyelid is completely different, and easily confused.

A general vet will be able to tell you in a second if its the eye white, or the third eyelid. Strabismus is just the medical term for lazy eye as far as I'm aware.

According to Clare, that kind of wandering eye is common in some cavaliers with CM/SM. Not sure if there are other causes in the breed. Of course for many dogs this might be an only symptom and the dog otherwise could be doing very very well, so if nothing else is happening I wouldn't worry about this alone. Clare I believe has said that kind of wandering eye generally has a neurological cause.

According to Clare, that kind of wandering eye is common in some cavaliers with CM/SM. Not sure if there are other causes in the breed. Of course for many dogs this might be an only symptom and the dog otherwise could be doing very very well, so if nothing else is happening I wouldn't worry about this alone. Clare I believe has said that kind of wandering eye generally has a neurological cause.

I will see if I can find her notes on this in my message files.

Elton has CM but no SM. We know CM can cause symptoms. He does squint a lot and others have noticed. I got mad because someone said his eyes looked *defected* but used another word I will not repeat.

According to Clare, that kind of wandering eye is common in some cavaliers with CM/SM..

That is very interesting, because Sophie does not exhibit any symptoms of CM/SM. Hopefully she never will, too.

I looked at some older pictures of her, and the lazy eye shows up at 18 months of age. There is a 6-months photo and both eyes are looking away from each other, so one eye probably strengthened and the other eye did not.

Here is an older picture, probably under 1 year old (she is 4 1/2 yrs now)
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